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Eagle projects bring local troop together

Boy Scout Troop 22 Assistant Scoutmaster Andy McClary, left, lines up the boards of a bat house before drilling a hole as Jay Armstrong, Scoutmaster Doug Nickell and scouts Jonathan Prouty and Cody Pitonyak work on another one. The troop, scoutmasters, scout alumni and parents helped Nathan Harman build a total of 40 bat houses for an eagle project. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

Nathan Harman lines up the inside parts of a bat house before stapling them together July 31 in Assistant Scoutmaster Andy McClary's garage south of Fort Morgan, as fellow Boy Scout Troop 22 members and alumni help with Harman's eagle project. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

A Boy Scout troop can be a second family for both its members and the men who lead it, and that is certainly the case for Troop 22 in Fort Morgan.

Scoutmaster Doug Nickell and Assistant Scoutmaster Andy McClary put in many hours helping out with the various projects and adventures taken on by the scouts.

Recently, they and the troop members and some of the scouts' parents spent several hours over multiple nights helping build bat houses in McClary's garage as part of Nathan Harman's project to earn the eagle scout rank.

"It's great to have everybody come to help out," Nickell said. "I guess that's the best part of the eagle project: having the troop come together to put it together. That's the leadership of it, having everyone help out."

He was particularly pleased to have the younger members of his troop be involved in building Harman's project.

"They get a taste of what it takes, how everyone helps out if they stay long enough to one of their own," Nickell said.

For Harman, it was gratifying but "kind of crazy" to see so many people helping him construct the bat houses.

"It's nice to have the troop here helping," he said. "It's a lot of work, and I wouldn't be able to do it without them."

Jay Armstrong, now a scout alum who reached eagle scout, was among those helping Harman put the bat houses together.

"They helped me out with my eagle project," he said, so he was willing to give a couple evenings toward helping out a fellow scout.

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Armstrong's project involved making improvements to the stations of the cross at St. Helena Catholic Church in Fort Morgan.

Harman's project involved putting together a total of 40 bat houses, with 20 getting donated to the city of Fort Morgan and 20 more going to those companies and individuals who donated funding or supplies for the project. He had presented his idea to the Fort Morgan City Council earlier this year, seeking and receiving approval for the donation.

And once the locations for hanging the bat houses is decided, it should only take a couple weeks to get them installed, he said.

Those locations could include the Armory Recreation Center, various city parks, well houses or other city buildings, Duke said.

"We have parks all throughout town, so we'll try to get them spread out," he said.

Duke congratulated Harman on reaching the point of doing such a project.

"Eagle scout, it's quite an accomplishment," the superintendent said, adding that he was happy the city and his department could be a part of it. "It's a good feeling. It's great to help the community and to help the scouts out."

And Harman got the houses built and then delivered to the city and donors just in the nick of time.

Harman left Fort Morgan and started college earlier this week. The 2017 Fort Morgan High School graduate is going to the University of Kansas and majoring in accounting.

For his mother, seeing her son's eagle project come together before he left was emotional but important.

"It's a huge step," Stephanie said. "There were some times we didn't know if we were going to make it, but he did. He got the job done. I couldn't be more proud of him."

But Nathan still has a bit more to do before he will officially become an eagle scout.

"What I have to do now is fill out one more thing of paperwork and submit it," he said. "Hopefully I'll hear back in a month or so."

Once that happens, he would then need to set up a Boy Scouts Board of Review session, where he would be asked about everything he had done in the scouts. Passing that, he would officially become an eagle scout.

After that, a Boy Scouts Court of Honor would be held, potentially over the Christmas break from college, when he would be formally presented with the eagle scout honors.

"I've been working on it for 12 years," Harman said of getting to the point of doing an eagle project and now having to wait to see if he did enough to earn that rank.

"He made it work, even with all of his activities, and sticking the scouts out," his mom said.

Getting scouts to the point of completing eagle projects is one of Nickell's goals as a scoutmaster. He said that Troop 22 has at least 10 members in grades five to 12 for this school year, but he is always looking for more boys to join.

"Hopefully, we'll have another recruiting night after school gets started," he said.

To find out more about Boy Scout Troop 22, call Doug Nickell at 970-370-1479.

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